1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mechanism which propels and/or is propelled by fluid, a term which includes both liquid and gases. It thus comprises means for the propulsion of vessels or vehicles, the generation of hydroelectric and wind power, the compression and evacuation of gases, the pumping and blowing of liquid and gas, the production and use of mechanical power in a closed cycle regenerative thermal machine, and other, fluid with mechanical energy conversion machinery.
2. Prior Art
In 1854, shortly before the paddle wheel was to be substantially replaced by the screw propeller, Charles de Berque of London, was granted a patent on a more or less horizontal, rectangular "oscillating fin", or vane, carried in a "paddle box" on the side of a ship. A central cross-arm, integral with the vane, extended upward of the paddle box to a deck above, where the end of the arm was rotated by a crank, driven by an engine. A link from the front end of the paddle box to the center of the vane, constrained the vane's center to a short, almost vertical, reciprocating arc of long radius. The de Berque vane was thus given an efficient fluid propelling motion, similar to that of the present invention. However, the de Berque vane ends moved on an elongated figure-eight curve, significantly different from the motion of the present invention's vane ends. The de Berque device had additional disadvantages, among which were an intricate mechanism and excess drag due to the blocking area of the cross-arm.
More recent prior art, involving a parallel sided vane within closely fitted side walls, was developed by 0. G. de la Roche Kerandraon. The vane of his apparatus is reciprocated across a duct of rectangular cross-section by a cross-arm which passes through an opening in a duct wall and which is loosely pinned or hinged to his vane near a one-third point on the vane's longitudinal center line. The de la Roche Kerandraon apparatus suffers four disadvantages: First of all, the essential looseness of the vane's hinge to the reciprocating cross-arm is believed to result in noisy and destructive percussive contact of the vane's closer end, and abrasive sliding of both of the vane's ends, with the top and bottom walls. Also, the reciprocating power supply adds to the complexity of its drive as compared with a rotary power shaft. The flow through this apparatus is not reversible, and the cross-arm contributes to fluid drag.
An older development by E. P. Guenther, in 1907, presented a device similar to de la Roche Kerandraon's except that the reciprocating power input of Kerandraon was replaced by a wheel crank. Guenther's rotary drive, however, produced even more adverse friction and abrasion at his vane's ends and still suffered the same adverse loosely flapping condition and other disadvantages, of the Kerandraon device.
In 1890, E. Courtright developed a device similar to de Berque's, but replacing de Berque's linkage constraint of the central area of the vane with veritcal slide rods operating through holes in the vane. Thus the central portion of the vane reciprocated in a short vertical straight line motion rather than on de Berque's short, almost vertical, arc. However, both, de Berque's and Courtright's vane ends moved on similar figure-eight paths, a condition which makes it difficult and impractical to attempt to provide an adequate seal of the vane end against an end wall, for the purpose of providing a useful chamber surrounding the vane, as provided by the present invention.
Although de Berque could have employed Courtright's curved top and bottom duct walls to advantage, both would have suffered from a difficult to seal upper wall, in which a longitudinal slot is required to clear the fore and aft motion, with respect to the duct, of the lower section of the vane's cross-arm.
A multi-bladed conventional screw propeller or turbine also has some disadvantages. These include the energy loss of the rotational energy imparted to the fluid, along with the axial thrust or torque produced, and the drag due to the blocking area of the propeller's central hub.